


In which Hinata is overzealous and Tsukishima is annoyed

by Toboe1087



Series: Shared Memories [10]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-15
Updated: 2019-08-15
Packaged: 2020-09-01 11:01:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,624
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20257039
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Toboe1087/pseuds/Toboe1087
Summary: Tsukishima Kei hated overzealous people. His brother and soulmate's experience had taught him that hard work was worthless, in the end. But now he was face to face with his soulmate, and he didn't quite know how to deal with that.





	In which Hinata is overzealous and Tsukishima is annoyed

Tsukishima Kei hated people that were overzealous about meaningless things. 

Growing up, he hadn’t cared, really. He had an overzealous brother and, from everything he saw in his soulmate’s memories, an overzealous soulmate, too. 

But then his brother had lied to him. Then he’d realized that no matter how hard his soulmate was trying, it meant absolutely nothing because he didn’t even have a volleyball team at his school.

Why did they keep trying?

All they were doing was hurting themselves. Hurting those around them. 

Kei hated his soulmate’s memories. Hated having those flashes where instead of his own life, he'd suddenly remember someone else's. Hated seeing his soulmate try and try and try and smile for his little sister as he promised he’d be the best one day, just wait and see.

Yeah right. 

Just like his brother was the team’s _ace_ every year of highschool, when really he wasn’t even sitting on the bench. 

Hard work wasn’t everything, and overzealous people needed to accept that. 

Honestly, Kei had thought about quitting volleyball, but… well, a club activity would look good on a college resume. So here he was, standing outside a volleyball gym once again, Yamaguchi at his side like always.

Kei sighed as he pushed the door open.

The team was small. Much smaller than it had been when his brother had played here. But there were enough players to fill the team and have some on the bench without kicking anyone to the stands, and Kei supposed he appreciated that. 

The practice itself had been odd, since there was no coach, but Kei didn’t particularly mind. It wasn’t like he had come to Karasuno to win or anything.

Karasuno was just the closest school to home. It had nothing to do with his brother’s past here. 

Nothing.

The fact that he’d have to come in for a match tomorrow, on a Saturday, was annoying, but he could live with it. It was just part of being in a club.

As he walked back through campus after practice, though, heading toward the front gates with Yamaguchi, Kei frowned—there were two guys at the edge of the soccer field practicing volleyball, and one of them had red hair.

That… wasn’t an option. It couldn’t be him. Sure they were around the same age, and his soulmate _did_ sound like the kind of overzealous troublemaker to get into a shouting match over volleyball and knock the Vice Principal’s toupee off on the first day… and to practice in the dark on his own to improve any way that he could…

Kei was really glad that he’d never told Yamaguchi that his soulmate’s sister and mother had red hair. The color was uncommon in Japan, and if two of his family members had it, it was likely Kei’s soulmate did, as well. 

Despite all of that, this boy couldn’t be him. Being on the same team with that overzealous idiot would completely destroy Kei’s goals of mediocrity in this club.

Without really thinking about it, though, Kei’s feet had led him over to the two other first years. His eyes narrowed; the taller one was definitely the setter from Kitagawa-Daiichi. Interesting.

As the setter sent a ball flying toward the redhead, Kei reached out, catching the ball before the shorter boy could receive it. “Wow. You two really are practicing outside.”

The boy turned around in shock, his jaw dropping. Man, he looked like he belonged in his first year of middle school, not high school. 

And he also had the same color eyes as his soulmate’s sister.

Kei didn’t know quite what to think about that. Better to just distract himself. “So are you the two first years that slapped the problem child label on your own foreheads on the first day?”

The redhead reached for the ball, but Kei just held it up higher, laughing as the guy tried to grab it. “Isn’t it past the time for elementary school kids to go home to their mothers?”

At that, the redhead started shouting. Kei smirked. He was fun to rile up, at least.

“You’re the other first years that are supposed to be joining up, right?” Oh. Kitagawa-Daiichi’s King was finally speaking up. “How tall are you?”

Kei frowned. As if he would answer this asshole. At least the short one was entertaining, even if he was overzealous. Plus…. Kei couldn’t shake the fact that so far the boy checked off all the same boxes as Kei’s soulmate. He couldn’t decide if he wanted to ignore the boy or analyze every detail about him, but he definitely didn’t want to pay attention to Kitagawa Daiichi. 

“Tsukki is 6’2”! He’ll probably be 6’3” soon!” 

“Tch.” Kei turned to his friend, annoyed. “What are you bragging about, Yamaguchi?” It’s not like this was any of his business.

“Sorry.” Yamaguchi gave him a shy smile, rubbing at the back of his head. Kei sighed. He supposed there was no harm done. King-sama would know the info soon, anyway, if they were going to be on the same team.

Kei turned back toward the King. Might as well get this introduction over with. “You’re Kageyama from Kitagawa-Daiichi, right? What’s an elite like you doing stuck at Karasuno?”

“Huh?!”

Kei blinked. That was certainly a fierce glare.

“Hey! You!” Kei turned back to the redhead boy, who was now pointing at him with a determined expression that made Kei’s stomach twist. That looked… it looked… it was so much like his soulmate’s sister’s determined expression that there could be absolutely no denying it.

He swallowed. This… wasn’t good. 

“Tomorrow!! We’re gonna win!” 

Tomorrow? His brain felt frozen—refusing to move past what he’d just discovered. What… what was tomorrow? “Oh.” Tomorrow was Saturday. The match. Kei tapped the volleyball against his head, feigning nonchalance. “This game might be important to the two of you, but to me…” he shrugged, “It’s whatever, really. Win or lose, I honestly don’t care. But you two will be in trouble if you don’t win, right?” Hmm… this would probably piss him off since he was so overzealous, but it’s the least he could do for his… well, his soulmate, Kei supposed. He tried to give them a friendly smile. “You want me to throw the game for you?”

“Throw the game or give everything you’ve got, it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t change the fact that I’m going to win.”

King-sama was glaring at him again, but Kei just burst out laughing, his soulmate’s outraged cry of “_We_ will win” making him laugh harder. “Such confidence! I guess that’s a king for you.”

“Don’t you ever call me—”

Kei smirked, his laughter dying as he cut off the pompous brat. “So it’s true. That rumor that says when you get called the ‘king of the court’ it pisses you off.” Kei shrugged. “What’s so bad about being called king, anyway? Kings are cool. I think it’s the perfect name for you, your majesty.”

“What’re you trying to do?” The setter’s words came out as a growl.

“I watched the prefectural finals last year. I’m surprised your teammates put up with your self-centered tosses like that. I wouldn’t. Oh wait!” Kei laughed, shrugging a bit. “It’s because they wouldn’t that things turned out the way they did.” There was no way Kei was going to deal with tosses like that in this club, and he was going to make that clear from the start.

The setter’s hand was suddenly wrapped in a fist around the collar of Kei’s shirt as he glared up at him. 

Kei stared back, his face impassive. Idiot. Moves like that had never intimidated Kei. He smirked when the guy released his shirt, then stormed off toward another edge of the field. “What, running away? Looks like the king isn’t all he’s cracked up to be. Who knows?” Kei tossed the ball up with one hand, catching it with ease, then repeating the motion. “Tomorrow, I just may happen to _beat_ your majesty—” 

Kei’s eyes widened as the shorter boy jumped above his head, catching the ball that Kei had just tossed upwards. 

There was no doubt about it.

There couldn’t be, after a jump like that.

This was his soulmate.

Kei swallowed. 

Shit.

He didn’t…. He didn’t want to deal with this. 

“Shut up about all that king stuff already! Don’t forget me! I’m here too!” 

Kei stared at his soulmate’s angry eyes. Oh, he knew. He knew the boy was here. He just didn’t want to deal with it.

“Tomorrow I’m going to zing one right past your ear!” 

Damn him, he was so overzealous it drove Kei insane. There was no way he could do that! Kei knew this guy’s volleyball experience, and it sucked! He glared at the boy. “Oh?”

Immediately his soulmate backed off, though his eyes were still defiant despite his shaking limbs. “You… you trying to, to start something?”

Ugh. The last thing Kei wanted was his soulmate to be afraid of him. He put on his best smile. “C’mon, what’re you getting all worked up for? Tomorrow, let’s have some fun and not stress, ok? I mean, it’s just a dumb game.”

“What do you mean it’s just a dumb game?!”

Ah… Kei had really walked right into that one. He probably should have known better than to say that. He refused to back down, though. He wasn’t going to be an overzealous idiot like his brother and his soulmate. He had to be the reasonable one. “I mean exactly what I said. Anyways, see you tomorrow.”

Kei turned to go, but another shout from the boy stopped him in his tracks.

“Hold it! Who are you, anyway?!”

Who was he? Kei scoffed. His soulmate, but he was hardly going to say that. Well, it was rare for soulmates to know each other’s actual names, but Kei supposed there was one way to find out. “Tsukishima Kei. We’re enemies for now, but after tomorrow, we’ll be your new teammates.”

“Tsukki… Tsukishima?” The boy was staring at him with wide, confused eyes. Eyes that occasionally glanced back toward Yamaguchi, who had probably been in plenty of his soulmates memories of Kei—Yamaguchi had always been at Kei’s side ever since they first met. 

Shit. Had Kei miscalculated? Did his soulmate actually know his name? Kei frowned. He’d said Tsukki first… did he know Yamaguchi’s nickname, but not his full name?

“Come on, idiot! We still need to work on your receive!” 

The moment broke, and the boy scrambled away to follow the king. 

Kei frowned. Surely his soulmate had realized? He’d acted like he’d put it together, but he hadn’t said anything… then again, Kei hadn’t said anything, either.

He hated annoying things like this. Why couldn’t everything just be simple? Kei’s fist clenched at his side, and he turned to leave, his pace brisk.

“Tsukki? What’s wrong? Wait up!” 

“Stupidly intense people who get all worked up over a dumb game piss me off. The king, that… midget. Just looking at them irritates me.” Kei scowled at the ground. He wasn’t looking forward to tomorrow’s match. He could just quit volleyball and avoid his soulmate, but…. well, that would be really lame. He wasn’t a coward.

Kei sighed. He would just have to deal with things as they happened.

Which, wasn’t so bad, actually. The next day, his soulmate was so focused on the game, he didn’t seem to be thinking about the soulmate issue at all. Kei would think he hadn’t realized they were soulmates, but every now and then… when the ball wasn’t in play and the boy thought Kei wasn’t looking, he would stare at him with this perplexed expression.

Of course, that expression could have been because he couldn’t spike any balls past Kei. His strength had always been blocking, after all.

And then… then his soulmate with his stupid overzealous ways had to go cheer up the king. Kei grimaced. He hated this. “You know, that kind of pure and earnest and straight-forward attitude makes me sick. Enthusiasm and guts aren’t enough to make up for being a foot too short. If you think that if you just try really hard everything will work out, you’ve got another thing coming.”

His soulmate was staring at him in confusion, not even hurt by the words. Tch. Whatever. 

Kei walked back to his position, ignoring Yamaguchi’s concerned glance and the captain’s evaluating expression. 

He didn’t care about any of this.

And then… then his soulmate hit a ball over the net. He’d run to where Kei hadn’t been, yelled for the ball, and barely managed to connect with it, but it had gone over.

They’d done a quick, but they’d never practiced it before. Kei grit his teeth in frustration. 

Idiots.

The chance of that working had been so incredibly slim…

Kei snorted, amused as their multiple attempted quicks after that all failed. There was just no way—

The ball zoomed over the net, landing with a thud on their side of the court.

Kei blinked.

“Hey, did you see that?” Kei turned to see the captain staring at the other first years in aghast horror. “That whole time…. Hinata had his eyes closed!”

“What?! Are you serious?!” Kei turned back to look at his soulmate incredulously, but the boy was still staring at his hand with an expression of pure happiness.

What… did this mean? Sure Kageyama was a monster, but if someone could actually receive those ridiculously fast tosses of his…

Damn it.

Kei couldn’t compete with that.

There were some slip-ups, but the other team won the first set, and then the second.

Well, it was just a club. It wasn’t a big deal if his soulmate was some freak and became a regular when Kei himself didn’t, despite being a foot taller.

“Tsukishima!” 

Kei froze, slowly turning around to turn and look at his soulmate. His soulmate who had his hand thrust out.

Kei really didn’t want to deal with this right now. The second their skin touched, there would be no more doubt—

“I’m Hinata Shouyo. I never introduced myself. And, well, players are supposed to shake hands before and after a match. We missed it before.”

“I heard your name during the match, idiot.” The glint in his soulmate’s eyes told him that there was more to this than _that_, though. This wasn’t just an introduction. Wasn’t just a sportsmanship ritual.

The boy, Hinata, wanted Kei to touch his hand and confirm that they were soulmates. 

Well, there was no escaping this, really. Trying to avoid his overzealous soulmate, even if he quit volleyball, would be impossible.

Slowly Kei brought up his hand, shuddering at the warmth that spread across his skin the second they touched. He closed his eyes, trying to focus on that feeling of comfort for just a second—

“You’ve changed. You used to be really eager about volleyball.”

Kei frowned, looking away from the slight furrow in his soulmate’s brows. Of course he’d know that. “Things changed.”

“Well, that’s ok, I guess.” Hinata’s hand tightened around his, then slipped away to give him a thumbs up. “At least you still like volleyball! You were totally serious at the end!” 

Kei’s hand fell to his side and he tried to ignore how cold it felt without his soulmate touching it. “I was not—”

“You were too!” Hinata laughed, then bounded forward and was suddenly _hugging_ him and Kei’s brain froze and— “I’m glad I found you, soulmate!” 

“EH?!!!” The whole team was staring at them in shock, especially Yamaguchi.

“Let me go, you idiot!” Kei struggled against his soulmate’s surprisingly strong arms, but Hinata’s grip was firm.

“Never!”

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed this TsukkiHina one-shot for TsukkiHina week! Kudos and comments always make my day, and I appreciate them greatly!
> 
> If you want to talk about my work, writing, or anime in general, we always love to have new people join us on my discord server! You can be active as much or as little as you want. I post chapter previews for my work there and try to give people a heads up about when the new chapters/one-shots are coming. https://discord.gg/BDZGCBa


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